We are currently working on an all-new version of the Alpha Clock Five firmware, which has an updated toolchain and will (hopefully) be a little easier for people to modify. The new firmware is currently at the stage of adding the menus, options, and other functions.
The primary supported functions of Alpha Clock Five are (1) as a serial-controlled data display device and (2) as a bedside-type alarm clock. We are always interested in hearing new feature requests, but there is a definite tradeoff to consider in terms of feature completeness versus simplicity and usability. So, while I like the idea of adding features like countdown and interval timers, they may not actually be good things to add to the main branch of the firmware. We could certainly consider a separate fork of the firmware (i.e., an available download) that would have those features instead.
– We could do a boxing timer, that displays the round number and time remaining
– We could do a lap timer, reset by a button, or so forth.
– We could do a simpler countdown timer.
The trickiest part for any of these is defining what the behavior *should* be– which button press does what, and what is displayed an so forth –such that it’s intuitive and easy to use. If you would care to make such suggestions, we’d be happy to listen.
BTW, I see that you’ve left this request on our wiki as well:
(That’s the best place for feature requests– if anyone has others, please add them there as well.)
